


A Beast by Any Other Name

by tracingdandelions



Series: Bumbleby Week 2019 [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Beauty and the Beast AU, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 09:10:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19867105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracingdandelions/pseuds/tracingdandelions
Summary: Day 4AU Day or rather High school/College Theater AU





	A Beast by Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> Well, well, well, I've fallen into my old habits! It is currently 11:52 as I type this and I am once again falling behind on my writing. But! It is still out! Here's to day four of Bumbleby Week! Thank you all for reading and liking my writing, I greatly appreciate it and hope you enjoy this one as well!

“Everyone calm down”, Professor Port huffs, attempting to maneuver through the milling crowd of teenagers, “You can’t very well see the list if I can’t put it up, now move!” The students reluctantly begin moving, parting only long enough for him to pass through before returning to the space they previously occupied. He tapes the piece of paper to the door and manages to evade the forward momentum of the crowd as eager eyes scan the names. Adjusting his collar, he takes a step back and watches his students, some ecstatic at their roles, others disappointment plain on their face as they congratulate their friends. He retires to his desk certain in the choices he has made.

At this time Ruby and Yang walk into the fine art’s hallway. Ruby taken back by the crowd gathered around the theater door.

“Yang! We’re late! I told you that we needed to hurry after the bell!”

Yang tousles her hair, “Nah, this is the best time to get here, most of the people scatter once they’ve seen their own name.” Yang’s words ringing true as the majority of the students hurried away to the rest of their afternoon. Several lingered near the door commenting on the roles everyone had gotten. Yang strolls up to the paper, Ruby in tow.

“You don’t even have to worry Rubes, you’re tech, you’re a guarantee!”

“Well yeah, but I’m excited to see what roles you and Weiss got!” She exclaims, sidling up to Yang to get a better look at the sheet.

“Let’s see here, Pyrrha is Mrs. Potts, Oscar is Chip” She lists of several more characters before laughing, “Ha! Get this! Weiss is a feather duster!”

“Oh man, she is not” Ruby giggles, reading the line Yang is pointing out. She breaks out in a fit of laughter and snaps a picture, already planning some joke. She finishes and looks back at Yang, “How about you, who’d you get?”

Yang flashes her a grin, “I’m the understudy to the Beast! Looks like Sun beat me out of it somehow, but I think I’ll manage.” She looks back at the paper, confirming her position when another name catches her eye. Huh. Blake Belladonna as Belle. She would have never taken her as an actress, let alone one for the lead role. Then again she didn’t know much about the mysterious transfer student. Her nose was always buried in a book, it was hard to get an introduction in. She turns back to Ruby, keys in hand and starts walking towards the door, mind swirling.

The first few weeks of rehearsal go as smooth as possible. Well, as smooth as twenty odd teenagers with various other obligations can go. They begin blocking scenes, the upperclassmen groaning with every reset because a freshman couldn’t find their position or forgot it entirely. But still they persevered. By the fourth and fifth weeks, the cast had most of the movements down. They moved seamlessly around each other, the choreography working in their favor more times than not now. However, their lines were lacking, Yang thought as she watched the tavern scene. Gaston, or rather Mercury, standing proud on the table, declaring some half-hearted lines about Belle, while everyone else stands around idly.

She lost interest in the scene long ago, finding her phone much more interesting in comparison. She toys with a few apps before the next scene starts. She glances up to see what they’re practicing next when she sees Blake and Sun take the spotlight. She closes the app she was on and watches enraptured by what ensues. Sun isn’t a bad actor by any means, Yang might even consider him good if he weren’t her rival in almost everything they did. But Blake was another level. Even after weeks of rehearsal, Yang still felt her breath catch when Blake was in a scene. She had had her lines almost memorized by the third week and that was apparent. When Sun stumbled, Blake was there to catch him with the next line, or sometimes even his own. But what really got everyone’s attention was the emotion she put into her words. The upswings she added to questions, every pause seemed to draw you in further to words that now seemed lifelike, not pulled from a script.

Yang pulls back for a moment, forgetting that’s she’s at rehearsal and sheepishly looks around to see if anyone caught her staring. Luckily, most of the cast is busy with props for the next scene to bother. She turns back to the scene unfolding and knows right then and there that she’s falling, and she’s falling fast.

The following weeks produce a cohesive show, sets are finished, lines are learned, and choreography is mastered. Everything is going well until the Tuesday before opening night when Sun enters the theater, crutches in hand, his foot in a boot. He makes it to Port’s office and closes the door, the more nosey cast members getting as close as they can to hear snatches of conversation. They break when they hear a chair move and Sun emerge, Port in tow. He flashes Yang a winning smiles as Port gathers the crew and announces the “Yang Xiao Long is to take over the roll of the Beast!”

Yang’s heart almost feels like it stops, her breath caught in her throat as she realizes what this means. She’ll have to play opposite Blake Belladonna. Oh, she thinks, I’m screwed.

The final days seem almost to be a scramble as Yang perfects lines and choreography that she really should have known a week ago. To be fair, she had other things on her mind. But now that those things were standing in front of her in a gorgeous ball gown, her mind went blank. She fumbled for her words, face turning scarlet as she stumbles backwards, knocking over a chair in her rush to get to the bathroom. There, she splashes water on her face, gripping the sink and staring at her reflection.

“You’re going to get over this now! We have a performance in two days and you can’t be acting like this over a crush!” She admonishes herself in the mirror. “You’re going to go out there and you’re going to say your lines even if she makes you more nervous than you’ve ever been!”

Determined, she turns to leave the bathroom and runs directly into the person she was avoiding. The two crash together, Yang grabbing Blake’s arms to steady the both of them. She lets go as the realization strikes her.

“H-how much did you hear of that?” She asks, brain going into overdrive as she begins to overthink.

“Honestly?” Blake asks, Yang nods, “All of it…”

“Shit… look, I didn’t mean that…”

“You didn’t mean what you said?” Blake questions, an almost imperceptible flash of sadness tingeing her voice.

Yang blushes, “I m-mean, I did! I just don’t want things to be weird between us… for this show, I mean”

Blake considers her for a moment, Yang growing uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

“Yeah, we don’t want things to be weird… for the show of course” She turns and walks out, stopping at the door to glance back once more, and Yang swears she looks sad again, before she pushes her way through. Yang stays in the bathroom a moment more, no longer worried about this crush. Her only concern is that she would do anything to make sure Blake never looked like that again

The remainder of the rehearsal as well as the next go just as planned and the cast is opening night ready just in time for the curtain to rise. The first half goes extremely well, everyone hitting their cues on time. The audience rises for the intermission as the crew beginnings changing the set. Yang is nervously pacing behind the curtain, heart racing for the second half of the play. She catches sight of Ruby who flashes her a thumbs up and feels a margin better. Before she knows it, the second half has begun and she finds herself on the rooftop with Mercury. Their fight drawing to a close as Yang makes her way back to Blake, safe on a balcony. But as she reaches her, Mercury exacts one last piece of revenge, plunging a fake knife into Yang’s back. She throws him off, finishing off Mercury as he “falls” to his demise.

Yang pulls herself onto the balcony, gravely wounded, as Blake holds her in her arms. This was a scene they had avoided as much as possible, citing they knew it well enough to skip it. Even so, it still couldn’t assuage Yang’s heart as it’s pace quickened in her chest. Yang closes her eyes, accepting her fate as the Beast, while Blake weeps overhead for the love Belle has lost. Slowly, Yang is pulled skywards, she rotates as the transformation takes hold, and suddenly, she is the Beast no longer.

She stands in front of Blake, grabbing her hands “Belle… it’s me”

Uncertainty lacing her actions, Blake steps forward, removing a hand from Yang’s to gently run her fingers through her hair. Her amber eyes lighting up with recognition as she looks into Yang’s eyes.

“It is you…”

Yang brings her hand to Blake’s face, holding her. Her mind racing with the split second decision she has to make. But before she can even consider anything, Blake’s lips are on her own. She’s surprised at first, but relaxes into it after the initial shock. They’re rougher than she expected and gone from hers in all too short a time. She looks at Blake, a quirk to her mouth that stays for the rest of their performance. The cast is called for one last bow before the curtain closes, Yang and Blake receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. Sun of course their biggest fan as he whistles loudly from the front row.

Yang gets back into normal clothes and is waiting for Ruby to finish when Blake approaches her, that same look in her eye from a couple of days ago.

“Hey, I just wanted to apologize for what I did on stage. I know we had never practiced it like that but-”

Yang cuts her off with a quick kiss and Blake pulls back, surprised, before grabbing the front of Yang’s shirt and pulling her in deeper. Yang smiles and she can feel Blake smile back as they separate.

Yang looks at her, eyes soft, “All I know is that I would do anything to make sure that you were never sad again.”

At that Blake laughs, “I never would have pegged you as a softie…”

“And I never would have pegged you as an actress, but look at us now”

“Yeah”, she exhales, “look at us now”. She kisses Yang one last time before Ruby shows up, the three of them exiting to their respective cars and homes for the night. Snug in bed the two look forward to the next performances and what may come after as they slowly drift off to sleep.


End file.
